I have had 2 CT scans in the last 3 months, both of which show that I have multiple splenic lesions of unknown origin. My hematologist has suggested that I do nothing for right now and do another repeat CT in 3 months. He did mention that they "do not look like an infection and are not indicative of cancer." But then he also called me an "enigma" and flat out admitted that he (and the 3 Radiologists that reviewed my scans) did not know what the lesions were. Should I go for a second opinion on reading my scans? Please help...3 more months is too long to wait without a diagnosis.

wow, sounds like i could have written this...same thing pretty much happened to me. I started having severe abdominal pain about a year ago. subsequent CT and MRI scans showed that I have several lesions on my spleen. I was sent to a hematologist to determine if it was lymphoma or a blod disorder, and a bone marrow biopsy came back normal. i've seen other doctors who think that splenic lesions along with some nodules at the bottom of my lungs and a slightly elevated ACE blodd level indicate sarcoidosis. all my other blood work always comes back normal and sarcoidosis doesn't explain my cronic abdominal pain. one of my doctors called me a riddle wrapped in an enigma. I went trough 9 months of tests and procedures to get that diagnosis, but I'm stil in pain. now my pcp thinks that the abdominal pain is irritable bowel, which has nothing to do with the spleen. hang in there, and if you're really scared about lymphoma of blood disorders ask for the bone marrow biopsy.

A recent CT exam showed the presence of multiple lesions on my spleen. I am a 69 year old female and in excellent health and feel fabulous. I have no idea what caused these lesions nor do they seem to bother me in any way. My doc has been monitoring these lesions every 6 months to see if they change, So far (2 years) no changes have been detected, however the latest CT showed a slight enlargement of lymph nodes and so my doc has referred me to an oncologist for a PET scan. I have no personal nor familial history of cancer and feel confident that these lesions are not a big deal.
We will see.

I have been going through the same thing, I've gone into the ER with severe lower right abdominal pain, which has been mis-diagnosed twice and still no answer for it! Also have had 3 CT scans and 2 ultra sounds within the last 4months that have shown I have multiple lesions on my spleen in which Drs. have NO idea why. I have been researching this on my own and the only thing that is consistent in what I've found Online and such is that it may possibly be caused by some type of colon disease or possibly cancer. I still am going to be undergoing tests within the next few months to see if or what is wrong. All I know is my spleen doesn't bother me but the abdominal pain is at times unbearable!

I happened upon your posts doing research. I too have complained about lower right abdominal pain and had my first ast scan which also showed multiple (10) lesions on my spleen. Nothing indicates cancer according to my bloodwork. I have an ultrasound and followup MRI this week. It seems like abdominal pain is a common ingredient and yet the hemotologist told me last week, they are most likely unrelated. very interesting and scary.

Doctors discovered multiple lesions on my spleen while doing tests during an emergency appendectomy two years ago. I have since had CT scans and blood work on a periodic basis to monitor. They now think that the lesions are benign or if cancerous, extremely slow growing or not growing at all, and thus not life threatening. It looks like I'll get a couple of year reprieve after the next scan which is good because CTs really load you up with radiation. The growths are like little bundles of blood vessels which you would normally associate with cancer. This caused some breathless moments initially but now it looks like everything's going to be OK.
I had the apendectomy while on a trip and have since been seeing doctors at home and so have had more than one opinion- you might consider having someone else look at it if they're stumped. My hematologist/oncologist, who is from India, thinks that the lesions may have caused by an infection in the past or an active infection- only problem with that is infections in the spleen are usually deadly serious- I would have noticed. I travel to places where sanitation is not the best; Vietnam, China, The Middle East; in these places spleen infections, especially fungal infections, are much more comment than in the US. Do you travel?
The problem of course is that they cant biopsy your spleen- its a big bag of blood that doesnt like being punctured. The docs look at everything around it to see if there are problems elsewhere. One of the benefits of the process has been that I got a very thorough working over head to toe; I can honestly say that my chances of having cancer are very slim.

I too have the mysterious lesions on my spleen and I couldn't agree with you more... worrying accomplishes nothing and further, don't worry about it until you are sure you have an identifiable problem.

I too had the same diagnosis. I went to the er with severe abdominal pain and vomiting. They found 30+ lesions on my spleen. Two spots on my liver and two nodules in my left lung base. I have had 2 different radiologist, my primary care, a internal medicine doc and a gi doctor look at this. They tell me the spots are insignificant and at first thought I had some type of parasite. They told me it is not the pattern they see with cancer. The gi doctor did and upperendoscopy and found nothing. I am to recheck my CT in 3 months but I have since found out that I am expecting my 2nd child. I will not be able to follow up my CT for 9 months and that really worries me. Do any of you work around lime or chemicals the doctor seems to think this could be a reason why I have these lesions? Any answers or follow-ups would be appreciated. Good luck to all of you and I hope everything goes well.

i have had the same thing happen to me. i went to the emergency room in November 09 with severe abdominal pain. they did bloodwork, a CT scan and an ultrasound. They found multiple lesions on my spleen and recommended that i follow up with a doctor. In December 09 i had an MRI which showed the same thing as the CT scan. The frustrating thing is that they cannot confirm whether or not they are malignant or benign. The doctor recommended that i wait 3 months and follow up in March 2010, which i did. The lesions had small changes in their pattern and they recommended i go to a hematology/oncology doctor who wants to wait another 4 months and have yet another MRI. I also have giant platelets, low ferritin that has fluctuated between 2(lowest) and 14(highest) over the last 2 years, low hemaglobin, hematacrit and low/normal platelet levels. Not sure if any of those are related to this or not but am a little concerned.

I had the same situation where 4 low attenuation lesions were found last year on a CT scan when I went to the ER for appendicitis like pain. I have since had a PET scan and last week a bone marrow biopsy. The oncologist was not able to find what she was looking for that way and wants to biopsy a lesion from the spleen. She feels I may have a low grade lymphoma. With no splenomeglia or any other symptomatology, I am hesitant to allow this. Is there any other way to determine what these lesions are composed of?

Same situation here too...the doctor found a lesion on my spleen after a CT scan and I've been having extreme lower abdominal pain since May 9. I'm supposed to go to my PCP to find out what's going on. The spleen is nowhere near the pain. I'm so confused. Thank you all for posting as I was having trouble finding anything myself.

Similar here - no abdominal pain, though. On my spleen, I have "multiple low-attenuating lesions, too numerous to count". I am already diagnosed with sarcoidosis, but this new finding seems to have docs worried. I am going to a consult about a spleen biopsy. Others say it is not often done? Hmmmmm. I had some enlarged lymph nodes removed from my chest and pathology was negative for cancer, but doc is reminding me that was 2 yrs ago now. I am not sure what to think or do. Maybe the bone marrow biopsy as mentioned by others??

I'm F/57, have numerous lesions on my spleen. They were found on a MRI for a mass on my left kidney. (which was only a cyst) My urologist said the lesions are abnormal and might need a biopsy! I have Multiple Sclerosis & am wheel chair bound 10 yrs & had breast cancer/left mastectomy 5 yrs ago. I'm cancer-free but I'm scared to get a biopsy! I'm waiting to see a spleen doctor...hopefully soon! Any ideas or suggestions?

I just came upon this forum. I had an abdominal CT scan 15 years ago, as I had pain to the right of my navel and straight down to my groin. Nothing was found other than many lesions on my spleen. The radiologist and other doctors did not seem concerned. I have since had several MRI's on the abdomen and the spleen lesions have not changed. I have done nothing more!

I was the original poster on this thread and I still do not have a definitive answer on my splenic lesions. I was just wondering if the others that posted to this thread have any update on their condition?

i still do not have an answer to my splenic lesions either. the oncology/hematology doctor who did the last CT scan of my spleen seemed unconcerned with the fact that the lesions have grown from 1.5cm to 2.1 cm or even the fact that my ferritin is still low. he could not confirm the diagnosis but stated the lesions were indicitive of non cancerous lesions. he dismissed me from having anymore follow ups or CT's of my spleen. my PCP has put me back on iron pills and i am also taking antibiotics for mycoplasma pneumonia (1-2 year regiment). still not satisfied with hematology/oncology doctor and still having pain in stomach and side. i am very frustrated.

I am also having spleen lesion. Per CT scan, the 3rd opinion told me that the lesion is growing inside my spleen. I have not been told that before by previous surgeon so this is something new to me. All surgeons indicated that the lesion did not appear to be cancerous but something that is growing then it needs to be removed. I went to see 3 surgeons and all of them agreed that removing spleen is my option otherwise I have to monitor it every 3-4 months. Again, going through CT scan is not a good thing since the body will be exposed with the radiation. I am looking for the holistic approach and researching to see what other alternative way that I can do to save my spleen and to dissolve the lesion inside it. Although people can live without spleen, the fact still remains that living without a spleen can increase the risk of infection or simply put, I will get sick more often without the spleen. I am in the process of trying different thing that can help my body healing itself. I have tried Lymphatic drainage therapy you can read all about it via my blog chatcocozza.com I do respect doctor opinions but after all this is my body and sometime, no one knows your body like yourself. I hope information on my blog will help educate people with spleen lesion. Any comments are welcome. Good luck and stay healthy..

I went to the ER yesterday because of severe lower right adominal pain, thought I might have appendintis. My abdomin was very tender to the touch. I was given a CT scan and like everyone else, they found nothing except a 2cm leision on my spleen. The radioligist compared the scan to one I had in 2006 and the leision was not present in that scan. I have not had any significant medical problems since 2006, so the cause is a mystery to me. The doctor was going to give me an ultrasound too but being it was Easter, he told me I could make an appointment during the week. So I have an appointment in 2 days. I am going to print these post and if I need to, I will pull these out and ask her to explain. There is something that we all have in common and that is pain in same spot and nothing found except the leisions. Weird!! I would like to know if this is a male/female issue or just woman. I am female age 35. I will post again if I find out anything useful. Good luck to all!

I was curious about splenic leisions and found this site. Very surprised to find the amount of people with them. I recently had two bowel surgeries, one to deal with a ruptured bowel and I ended up witn a colostomy, and the other operation to reverse the colostomy. Recently had some abdominal pain and went to get checked because of history of bowel trouble. The CT and other tests showed no problem with bowels, not ruptured or inflamed etc. But in the CT test spleen leisions showed up. I am experiencing intermittent abdomonal pain and wonder yet if it's the result of bowel surgeries or something to do with the spleen leisions. Am now in process of further tests and will report if anything further. BTW, the bowel surgeries were due to ruptured bowel and was non cancerous.

Wow, I am amazed at how many people have these. I just saw an Oncoligist to review my diagnosis of numerous spleenic granulomas and I am also experiencing unexplained bruising, low wbc, leg bone pain and extreme fatigue. She scheduled me for another cbc and a CT next week. My younger sister has cll which is a form of leukemia. I am worried I might have some type of leukemia with my symptoms. Depending on the outcome of bloodwork and CT I might be looking at a bone marrow biopsy next. Anyone have experience with this? I know they say they hurt like the devil. UGH!

wow... so many people have the same as me! I am a 38 yr old female.. fit and healthy.. but had a CT scan and they found lesions throughout my spleen? What does a lesion consist of? Can they be non-cancerous? My white blood cell count is 1 or 2 lower than normal. I am getting a test at hematology clinic in Feb, just to be sure.. I don't want to be worried about this over Christmas.. can someone make me feel better about this please?